The present invention is directed to dynamic fixation assemblies for use in bone surgery, particularly spinal surgery, and in particular to longitudinal connecting members for such assemblies, the connecting members being attached to at least two bone fasteners.
Historically, it has been common to fuse adjacent vertebrae that are placed in fixed relation by the installation therealong of bone screws or other bone anchors and cooperating longitudinal connecting members or other elongate members. Fusion results in the permanent immobilization of one or more of the intervertebral joints. Because the anchoring of bone screws, hooks and other types of anchors directly to a vertebra can result in significant forces being placed on the vertebra, and such forces may ultimately result in the loosening of the bone screw or other anchor from the vertebra, fusion allows for the growth and development of a bone counterpart to the longitudinal connecting member that can maintain the spine in the desired position even if the implants ultimately fail or are removed. Because fusion has been a desired component of spinal stabilization procedures, longitudinal connecting members have been designed that are of a material, size and shape to largely resist flexure, extension, torsion, distraction and compression, and thus substantially immobilize the portion of the spine that is to be fused. Thus, longitudinal connecting members are typically uniform along an entire length thereof, and usually made from a single or integral piece of material having a uniform diameter or width of a size to provide substantially rigid support in all planes.
Fusion, however, has some undesirable side effects. One apparent side effect is the immobilization of a portion of the spine. Furthermore, although fusion may result in a strengthened portion of the spine, it also has been linked to more rapid degeneration due to increased stresses and even hyper-mobility and collapse of spinal motion segments that are adjacent to the portion of the spine being fused, reducing or eliminating the ability of such spinal joints to move in a more normal relation to one another. In certain instances, fusion has also failed to provide pain relief.
An alternative to fusion and the use of more rigid longitudinal connecting members or other rigid structure has been a “soft” or “dynamic” stabilization approach in which a flexible loop-, S-, C- or U-shaped member or a coil-like and/or a spring-like member is utilized as an elastic longitudinal connecting member fixed between a pair of pedicle screws in an attempt to create, as much as possible, a normal loading pattern between the vertebrae in flexion, extension, distraction, compression, side bending and torsion. Problems may arise with such devices, however, including tissue scarring, lack of adequate spinal support and lack of fatigue strength or endurance limit. Fatigue strength has been defined as the repeated loading and unloading of a specific stress on a material structure until it fails. Fatigue strength can be tensile or distraction, compression, shear, torsion, bending, or a combination of these.
Another type of soft or dynamic system known in the art includes bone anchors connected by flexible cords or strands, typically made from a plastic material. Such a cord or strand may be threaded through cannulated spacers that are disposed between and in contact with adjacent bone anchors when such a cord or strand is implanted, tensioned and attached to or compressed against the bone anchors. The spacers typically span the distance between the bone anchors, providing limits on the bending movement of the cord or strand and thus strengthening and supporting the overall system. Such cord or strand-type systems typically require specialized bone anchors and tooling for tensioning and holding the chord or strand in the bone anchors. Thus a major disadvantage of such cord and spacer systems is their lack of interchangeability with more rigid rod systems, especially those systems that incorporate polyaxial screws as bone anchors.
The complex dynamic conditions associated with spinal movement therefore provide quite a challenge for the design of more flexible and/or elastic elongate longitudinal connecting members that exhibit an adequate fatigue strength to provide stabilization and protected motion of the spine, without fusion, and allow for some natural movement of the portion of the spine being reinforced and supported by the elongate elastic or flexible connecting member. A further challenge are situations in which a portion or length of the spine requires a more rigid stabilization, possibly including fusion with deformity correction, while another portion or length may be better supported by a more dynamic component that allows for protected movement or stress relief, especially adjacent to a long rigid rod construct. In such cases a more rigid longitudinal connecting member can be attached to a cord member of varying length.